Best Credit Card Intro Bonuses and Perks

While this information was accurate at the time this post was published, these cards’ offers and perks may have expired or changed over time. Visit our reviews of the best credit cards to find the right card for your needs.

Looking for instant rewards from your credit card? With the economy continuing to improve, credit card issuers are trying harder than ever to attract new customers, even those with credit that isn’t perfect. Many credit card lenders are now offering lavish “intro” bonuses and perks to get customers onboard immediately. These usually come in two areas: immediate cash back and 0% intro APRs.

Intro Cash Back Bonuses: This is usually a large amount of cash back points or miles that you get after spending a certain amount of money in the first 3 months. These bonuses can start as low as $50, but now go all the way up to $400 of basically free money. And unlike in the past, some cards, like Capital One Venture Rewards, offer a $400 intro bonus AND may approve people with “good” (often considered a credit score above 660), not just “excellent”, credit.

0% Intro APR: This basically means that you won’t pay any interest on your balance for however long the intro period lasts. Some cards offer up to a year and a half of no interest, which is great if you are transferring a balance or making a large purchase. And just like the cash back bonus cards, some of these 0% intro APR cards, like Chase Slate, are now available to those with good, not just great, credit.

So which cards offer these great rewards? We put together some of the top credit cards that we think have the best bonuses:

Best Credit Cards with Intro Cash Back Bonus

Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite Mastercard: This card offers 40,000 bonus miles when you spend $3,000 in the first three months, which is equivalent to $400 in travel spending. You simply redeem the miles for a $400 statement credit for any travel purchase. The Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite Mastercard also offers cardholders 2x the miles on every $1 they spend on anything at anytime, equivalent to 2% back to spend on travel on every purchase, the highest reward rate we’ve found. The card also gives you 5% back when you redeem your miles for travel expenses, which is a perk we haven’t seen from any other credit card. The only downside is the $89 annual fee, which is waived for the first year. You need excellent credit to be approved for this card.

Capital One Venture Rewards: This card offers the same 40,000 miles intro bonus (worth $400) that the Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite Mastercard does, when you spend $3,000 in the first 3 months. It also has the same 2x miles on every $1 you spend anytime, anywhere (equivalent to 2% cash back), and the same simple redemption process. It has a lower annual fee than Arrival Plus at $59, which is waived for the first year. Unlike Arrival Plus, you don’t have to have excellent credit to be approved for the Venture card. Even those with just “good” credit (typically considered a credit score above 660) have a chance to be approved and earn the impressive $400 intro bonus as well as ongoing 2% reward rate on all spending.

Best Credit Cards with Intro Bonus AND 0% Intro APR

Blue Cash Preferred Card from American Express: The Blue Cash Preferred Card from American Express (a NextAdvisor advertiser) offers a great combination of intro bonus, ongoing rewards program and 0% intro APR. It offers an intro cash back bonus of $150 when you spend $1,000 in the first three months. You also get a 0% intro APR for the first 15 months. The card offers 6% cash back at supermarkets, 3% back at US gas stations and select US department stores, as well as 1% on everything else. The only downside is the $75 annual fee, but the perks make it worth it. For those that just don’t want an annual fee, check out its sister card, the Blue Cash Everyday Card from American Express. It has slightly lower cash back rates but still offers a $100 intro bonus and a 15 month 0% intro APR.

Best Credit Cards with 0% Intro APR

Citi Simplicity: If you are making a large purchase that you want to pay off slowly, this is the card for you. It offers a 0% intro APR for 18 months — a year and a half — which is the longest 0% intro APR period we’ve seen. It also doesn’t charge any fees. No late fees. No annual fee. And no penalty rate for paying late on your card. It does, however, have a balance transfer fee, so if you are looking to do a balance transfer, we recommend checking out the next card.

Chase Slate: This card has no balance transfer fee for the first 60 days. It also offers a 0% intro APR on both purchases and balance transfers for 15 months. The Chase Slate card also has no annual fee, which makes it the perfect card overall if you want to transfer a balance without having to pay for it. And unlike most long 0% intro APR cards, people with good (not just those with excellent) credit have a chance to be approved for Chase Slate.

Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuer. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. This content was accurate at the time of this post, but card terms and conditions may change at any time. This site may be compensated through the credit card issuer Affiliate Program.

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Consumers should be wary of any Barclay’s credit cards, like the Wyndham Rewards VISA. Last summer they advertised “Free Motel Nights for as few as 5500 pts.” I used their card for the next 9-10 months, accumulating over 40,000 pts. When I took my long-awaited trip this May, I called to make a reservation on the first day — and was told that the minimum number of points required for a “free night” was 15,000. When I asked what happened to the 5500-point motels, the curt reply was “That was an old promotion.” No notice of the change was ever communicated. And isn’t it a coincidence that this “change” was made suddenly in early May, the beginning of a new travel season? I would not trust any Barclay’s credit card; Barclay’s changes the rules whenever it wishes, without notifying cardholders. Their actions border on fraud!!

One thing nice about Capital One is that they don’t charge a balance transfer fee. However the interest rate is higher than most so you have to be careful that you can pay off the transfer in the time allotted. Chase Slate has a 2% fee for balance transfers and usually 0% interest rate. Bank of America can have a balance transfer fee as high as 5%! Why is there such a wide range of fees? I refuse to pay a transfer fee of 5%. Almost everyone I know has refinanced their home at one time to pay off high interest rate credit cards! Hopefully we learned a lesson from that. The problem with credit cards is that it allows people to live beyond their means so just be careful! What really makes me angry is when you pay your balance and then get a statement saying you owe interest for the interim time. I thought it was illegal to do that but Bank of America continues to do that.

If you walked up to me on the street and asked me for a 20000 dollar unsecured loan just because you had a job and a good fico score. I would tell you to bugger off no matter what interest rate was involved. Yet this is essentially what banks did when they lobbied to change usury laws allowing them to charge high interest. So congress changed the laws. Then people filed bankruptcy. Banks did not reap the interest they wanted. Then banks lobbied congress again to change the laws again to make it harder to file bankruptcy. People stopped borrowing. The economy stagnated. It is still stagnate and will be for years. We never had a real economic boom we had a debt boom related to consumer debt spending. Want the economy to boom again. Ease the bankruptcy laws again and let people borrow spend and file bankruptcy with ease. Banks make plenty and can eat huge losses. Bankruptcy laws only pad profits at the expense of a growing economy. Lax bankruptcy laws equate to a robust economy and shake out bad lenders. Good banks have good lending policies and don’t issue credit cards nilly willy. Bring back the old days when greed killed bad banks as it was suppose to. Now its all about be a s hitty bank and having the govt write the laws to keep you afloat.

As many have pointed out, if you manage your credit cards well (IE-use them to pay for things you’d buy anyway) and pay them off each month (or each week like I do) you’ll make good money in miles or cash back. I’ve been doing this for about 10 years and make about $500-$600 per year in cash back. That’s well over $5000 over 10 years. I carry no balance and treat what I put on the credit card as if I paid for it in cash.

THAT is how you make money with these things. Of course for every person like me that makes money with credit cards there are 10 more that pay the high interest rates and that’s what the companies are (literally) banking on.

Interesting information. Im sure it’s not All true, some of it is some of it may be partial true. I’d like to communicate more with Greg who posted his comment Sep. 20 stating that credit cards are ‘evil’ and having financial discipline.

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About Author

Jeff Hindenach

Jeff Hindenach started his career as a journalist for the San Jose Mercury News and the San Francisco Examiner. He is currently the Director of Content for NextAdvisor and oversees the content and community efforts of the site.

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